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Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has been criticised by Glasgow’s Palestine Action group after he swore at protestors at a recent festival appearance.

‘Some f*cking people…’ he muttered under his breath but in to a microphone during Friday’s performance at TRNSMT festival in Scotland.

The comments came after protestors associated with various pro-Palestinian groups rallied outside the festival grounds and then later flew flags near the front of the stage as the band performed; one flag read ‘Radiohead: #CancelTelAviv’.

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‘As a lifelong fan of Radiohead and supporter of the Palestinian struggle for justice, it broke my heart when the band decided to play in Israel,’ one fan Struan Mearns said to Glasgow Palestinian Action.

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‘When Thom Yorke gave us the finger I was shocked and disappointed. But given that they are about to help Israel whiteash its crimes against the Palestinians, that kind of attitude is not surprising.’

The band are due to perform in Israel on July 19 as part of their 2017 world tour but that decision has come under fire from not only protestors but also Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Yorke’s fellow artists including Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, who have signed an open letter calling on Radiohead to cancel its concert as part of the wider Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that supports an intellectual, economic and cultural boycott of the country.

In response Yorke said that it was ‘deeply disrespectful to assume that we’re either being misinformed or that we’re so retarded we can’t make these decisions ourselves’.

‘Just to assume that we know nothing about this. Just to throw the word “apartheid” around and think that’s enough. It’s fucking weird. It’s such an extraordinary waste of energy. Energy that could be used in a more positive way,’ Yorke told Rolling Stone.

He also pointed to the experiences adiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood has experienced in Israel; Greenwood’s wife, Israeli born Sharona Katan, considers herself an Arab Jew.

Why is there a cultural boycott in Israel?

The cultural boycott is one of many aimed at avoiding ties with the state of Israel.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (also known as BDS and the BDS Movement) is a global campaign attempting to increase economic and political pressure on Israel to comply with what they describe as international law.

One petition sent to Radiohead previously claimed that ‘Israel is regarded as an apartheid state because of separate laws for Jews and non-Jews’.

It continued: ‘Stand with us as we work for peace, justice, and human rights – cancel your concert in Tel Aviv.’;

However many states do not agree with the BDS campaign, including the Liberal Party of Australia, both major political parties in the United States; the European Union has also expressed opposition to boycotting Israel.

A common reason given for opposing BDS is that it attacks Israel’s legitimacy and fosters antisemitism.